When the original Alice Cooper Group dismantled in 1974, Alice Cooper stepped out as a solo artist to shock the world with his debut, 'Welcome To My Nightmare.' The album has gone on to become one of the biggest sellers in his catalog. Naturally, doing a sequel is something that has been in the back of Cooper's mind for quite some time.
After much anticipation, 'Welcome 2 My Nightmare,' the follow up to Cooper's first solo masterpiece, has been completed. "[It's] done, and I am so proud of this album," Cooper recently told Noisecreep.
Noisecreep: What can we expect from 'Welcome 2 My Nightmare?'
Alice Cooper: It will be out next year. We have to do the whole festivals tour first which will be South America, Australia, Europe, Canada, all over the States. That's going to be a big kind of heavy Alice show. But the [tour] after that will be Welcome To My Nightmare Part Two – 'Welcome 2 My Nightmare,' and it's going to be a full-out nightmare so I almost can't wait for that one. The next show is going to be fun. The show after that, the nightmare show, is going to be unbelievable.
Are you going to whip out the guillotines and all of that?
Oh yeah. The magic screen – everything.
Do you have a favorite stage prop?
Well you know when you're going to kill Alice, you can't kill him slow. You have to do something that is going to make the audience go 'Ahh.' The guillotine gets that reaction every night. The hanging gets that reaction. The electric chair doesn't. You know, the electric chair is just too slow of a death. You have to get something that makes people go 'Uhh.' You know, when you see the head actually come off and roll off. You go, 'they actually killed him -- they killed him' [laughs].
I've heard everyone from Lady Gaga to Metallica say that you've influenced their career. How does it feel to have such an impact on such a wide range of artists?
A lot of these bands came after us. I think with Lady Gaga, it was more the spectacle. You know, more of the idea that if you're gonna do it, do it. Don't just do it, do it. She took that to heart and became the Elton John/Liberace of that genre. In the old days she would have been Mae West, or she would have been Sophie Tucker. There were these certain women through history that were so outrageous. They were more outrageous than men because they were women doing in. Lady Gaga is in that world, you know.
She just keeps outdoing herself. Did you see she came to the Grammys in an egg?
I loved it. I thought it was great. And you know the thing about it? She can back it up. She can sing, she writes her own songs. To me, she is a cut above all the other girls. I mean I like Shakira too, because Shakira is a rocker. She gets up there and rocks. But I think Gaga really has brought a whole [new] dimension to it.
by Nicole Pajer
www.noisecreep.com
I saw the original Welcome To My Nightmare tour in Sydney, Australia in 1977. Can't wait to see Welcome 2 My Nightmare.
Alice, will Dick Wagner be in the line up for the Welcome To My Nightmare 2?
im happy alice is still out there, doing what he does best. although i do miss the keyboards which for me added that atmospheric dimension and beefed up the bottom end
HELLO GUY AND GIRLS I' JEROME I LIVING TO FRANCE AND I LICK VERRY OZZY. I'M SORRY MA ENGLISCH IS VERRY BAD....I WHANT JUST SAID WHEND COMMING TO FRANCE ...????
PLEASE!!!!! love ya
Hey Alice have you forgotten us in oklahoma?? we love u too..lol im not b@#$ing would just love to see you again seen you 2 times so far it was GREAT!!! please come back
Money Grabe!!!!??????? Alice a money grab?????? FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK HIS IS ANSWER ME THIS...... HOW MANY BIG NAME BANDS YOU KNOW PLAYED IN TIMMINS????? ( NOT COUNTRY BANDS ROCK OR METAL ONLY) ONLY ONE AS FAR AS I KNOW AND IT IS Mr. ALICE COOPER HIM SELF ......
ALICE I think your the best seen you in concert many times and every time I see you live you inpress me more and more thank you for the great shows and music you have giving us over the years and wish you the best of luck with your next tour and golf game lol
Counting the day's till I see you live again (SUDUBRY ONT> MAY 18TH 2011 65$ a ticket) money grab my ass!!!
Please come to Pittsburgh Pa.on your tour this year.We loved you in Johnstown Pa. last year...it was a great show!
Remember, Jack Curtis is watching. Sorry to hear about Ladmo when he died, I grew up in Phoenix, AZ, Alhambra High class of 1969 moved to LA(Yuck.) Had a friend in HS Jerry Dunaway? Don't you kinda' know his brother, Dennis? Please giv 'em hell 7 times---Rock on Alice from up here in Big Beautifull Bold Big Bear Lake, CA (Sorry the authorities made you say all that in Emails.)
Jack C.
Please come to Germany, to MAGDEBURG!!! It´s a nice town with many Shopping-Center, and you can buy German Jeans. Please vergive me my bad englisch. Please please come to MAGDEBURG!!!
Sandra
Mr.cooper im your biggest fan ever.I'm 13 years old and i live in ohio my name is anthony elder. Even though i only have only one of your concerts i have your movie along came a spider. But anyways i was wondering,are you going to come to ohio. I would realy appreciate if you messaged me back.i have to make a new email adress it will be anthony.elder2@yahoo.com thank you so much.
I get the post editing thing but that at most would take untill June to have it ready for release, He said t was done and just sitting there about a month ago. I as a huge Alice fan want to here it. I want to have it in my hands. He keeps mentioning that it is done and how good it is and I believe him I just want to see it and hear it sooner than later. I will go and see the No. More Mr. Nice Guy tour to if it comes around Alice is my all time favorite but I don't think its to much to ask for when I shell out money every year on tour merchandise and any other Alice Cooper thing I can get my hands on. I also plan on shelling out $260 on this old school box set which I feel is a ridiculous amount of money so no I don't think it's to much to ask Alice to put out the album now if it's done vs. next year.
The new album will be great no matter when it comes out. There arent too many meaningful living ledgends that can keep putting out a good product, if any, period. Looking forward to my half dozen or so shows this year and beyond. By the way, wasnt Along Came A Spider supposed to be the sequal to WTMN? Anyway, here's to the new tour and the next release, cheers.
I want to see ALICE do some stuff from the Raise Your Fist And Yell album. I would love to see him play Roses On White Lace, Prince Of Darkness, Freedom or Step On You
Hey Alice, is there any truth to the original line up performing together again? That would be unbelievable for us long time fans.P.S. love your radio show.
I don't care if he goes up and FARTS into the microphone, I'm glad he's still touring!!! Here's to another successful year of touring Alice, can't wait to see the Elizabeth IN show!!!!!!
I LOVE YOUU
A tour done so that Alice can continue making a living like any other working musician? Yes. Doing it strictly for the money with no regard to quality? No.
It is evident that more money is being pumped directly into the shows, now that there are three guitarists, one of them a vet who is probably not doing this for spare chump change.
The album may not even be done with post-editing, and if Alice wants to do a big tour behind it then its better to have a while to prepare for it.
Hey Alice are you coming with No more Mr.nice guy to Houston,Tx.If yes that woud be "COOL"I"ll be there.
I don't believe Alice is doing a monet grab but he has been constantly touring around his greatist hits. Theater of Death which I saw 2 times about a year and 1 month apart was a greates hits tour. There was one stinking song Vengenance is Mine off of The Along Came a Spider album. Remember the Coop saying that he was going to do a show based on the whole album yet we only got one song. Now mind you I loved the show and I will always go and see the Coop when he is in a 100 mile radius but he has been working on this new album for 2 years and it is done so why not put it out now as he has always done months before he tours an album. 2 if he is going to do a No More Mr. Nice Guy tour why not with the orginal lineup with Steve Hunter or Damon Johnson filling in for the late great Glen Buxton. This would be worth waiting for the new Nightmare tour. I can only wish that # 1 the Welcome 2 My Nightmare will play the first nightmare and new nightmare in their entirety and 2 feature the orginal band on stage for a whole tour. This would be a dream come true. Now I have never considered Alice a money grabber and I would also say that he has played venues that other big artists do not play. He has had to open for people that he should not be opening for. This takes a great deal of humility on his part and I think that speaks volumes about him as an artist and a man. Alice has been highly underated during his entire career so I personally wish that he will have the most profitable tour and album that he has ever had because it is long overdue it is high time Alice is back on top. I have gone to see him almost every year for the last 15 years and he only has gotten better with age. Other bands material have gotten stale and there performances weak but Alice still blows me away both with his new albums and his tours. He is the best that there is in my mind and I only want the new album now because I need some new Alice! I am excited and I say long may you rock Alice Cooper!
Alice is NOT the king of delaying releases... if you're a KISS fan you know they are... No new album between 1998's Psycho Circus and 2009's Sonic Boom. Claiming there won't be a new album, music sales are dead, bla, bla, bla and then they dropped the (awesome) Sonic Boom.
Alice however has been releasing albums almost yearly and tours constantly.
The Theatre of Death show was my favourite of his 11 shows I've seen so far. I'm seeing the next show november 2nd in Brussels and did indeed get the VIP package... My first Cooper show was in october 1991 so it's about time I meet the legend, 20 years later...
Isn't the tour starting in november already the "Welcome 2 my nightmare tour" ? If that's the case the album could / should have a Halloween release (how appropriate !)...
Alice just added the ***** Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ to the tour. August 21,2011. Next town over from where Springsteen lives, maybe a duet of "Under My Wheels"?
Isn't a little cruel to make your fans wait for this when it is already done. I know it is good to build buzz but come on Coop your driving me nuts here. You first said spring or summer and then Halloween now your talking next year what is up with that. This thing was supposed to be called the Night Shift be a double album and have been out last year. I love you to death but you are the king of delaying album releases. There is always a release date and then right when it's suppose to come out we get a 2 to 3 month delay. Stop teasing and start pleasing. We need this album now. Thanks for listening!
remember the coop.....this is GREAT a follow up part 2 WELCOME 2 MY NIGHTMARE it better kick ass like brutal planet did pow blam krunch kapow thudd WOW WHAT A RECORD YOU OUT DID YOURSELF ALICE........a fan since 74..
I agree with you, Alice! Lady Gaga is awesome!
But YOU are even more awesome! You are the best! ;D
X Sara Helene /Sick Thing / Little Monster :D
I am proud to say I got to meet you in Pheonix at a music store as you were kicking off the Trash Tour years ago, I am still proud of that and the picture I have from it. When are you going to hit the Tacoma/Seattle area??? Would love to see the show, it's been awhile???
really hope the tour is more connected to the album than was done with along came a spider. a great album imho that did not get the support or exposure it deserved. the timing coincided with a totally unrelated tour, which must have taken out steam from potential sales. hope for smarter planning and marketing this time, to make sure AC and the new album gets the deserved credit! rock on ALICE, i have every single one of your albums and can't wait for this one!
I saw the "TOD" tour, as part of the "Gruesome Twosome" shows, of which you stopped in Grand Prairie, Texas around Halloween of 2010 and I must say it really kicked ass! I also picked up the "Blu-Ray" TOD disc, which also included the full CD audio of the same show & I am very impressed. You, KK, Chuck, Damon, Jimmy really killed it! Is KK still in the touring band for the upcoming tour?
Welcome to my Nightmare (WTMN) is one of the darkest, creepiest most beautifully dark albums ever, it is a Masterpiece (capital M). First time i listened to it, it was 20+ years ago and i can still feel the hair on my neck stand when i hear that "steeeeeeeeeeveeeeen... is someone calling me..".
I wished that name would never be used again, i just hopw that AC sees that the bar is VERY HIGH as regards to WTMN and doesn't leaves us with a bitter taste in our mouth.
respect
PZ
I hope it will be in the same vain and as contempary as the original was, ground breaking and timeless. Want to see ya on tour again... A Welcome 1 and a Welcome 2 would be great with an orchastra in its entirety with all the Macabre, that would be cool, love it already.......
The release date keeps getting pushed back. I'm FREAKING! Return of the magic screen? Oh yay! But, since it is a 3 million dollar prop, what are the chances of it being a regular tour? I'm afraid it will only play in large venues and for high ticket prices.
I am going to poop my pants! Yay for part 2!!! Please don't book at DTE in Michigan, it's the worst place around. The setup is backwards and if you want to get something to drink you are completely away from any sight of the stage. Is the stop there in August going to be Theatre of Death or No More Mr Nice Guy?
I do want to say THANK YOU FOR PLAYING BAY CITY! I was in awe and I kept looking around like, "Yes Tacie, Alice is really right here in your town!" I didn't want it to end. I have seen you a dozen times and would see you a dozen more. We even had to have tickets for that same tour in Mil-E-wauk-A last summer!
What is with idiots calling ANY Alice tour a "Moneygrab". A moneygrab is a concert that simply "phones it in". A current Metallica concert? Moneygrab. Any left-over bands from the 80's, like KISS...Moneygrab. An Alice Show, regardless of the reason behind it, is never a Moneygrab show. Alice gives 150% to every show he performs. He gives the fans a show, great music, and amazing entertainment, for a lot less than any other show out there. Back row for Roger Waters? 200$. Front row for Alice? 75$. Where's the money grab? He can't just finish an album, and jump into a tour. It can take up to a year to conceptualize a large scale tour of that caliber, and since this is such a big one, it's going to take planning. If you were a real fan, you would be happy just seeing a show. Suck it up.
Keep it up, Coop. Ottawa is behind you all the way.
He did this with the last album, too. Hype it up way too early then book some pointless other tour with nothing to do with the new album so we have to wait forever. His tours seem to routinely be booked right in the way. Why the "No More Mr. Nice Guy" tour?? How 'bout put out the dang new album and tour THAT? You can always do another money-grab greatest hits tour later.
Hello,
I am an adoptee who connected with my birth family some years ago. They told me my brother, Bruce Boers, went to Camel Back High School in AZ with you.
Unfortunately, he passed away in a car accident in the early eighties. He had already died when I found my bio-family.
Hearing the news that you went to school together was a bittersweet thrill for me.. I've always been a fan, Anytime you played anywhere nearby, I was there, often dressed in a black cape with spider and web I made especially for your concerts. Ironic...
I wonder if you read these posts?
I wonder if you remember Bruce and could tell me anything about him? I've dreamt of him all my life and have always had a strong connection, even though we've never shared space here. It would mean so much to me. I looked nearly 30 years for my bio-family, wanting him the most and was heartbroken that he had left before I could find him. He never knew of me. The pictures I have of him...we could be twins, my bio-mother said it was uncanny how alike we were.
Here's hoping I get a reply. And I must take the opportunity to say long may you rock!
Wishing you and yours the very best always, JoAnn Andrews
Gee, don't ask him about the CONTENT of the album or anything....Lady Gaga, WTH? Stop with the fluff pieces and give us some CONTENT.
i want to hear the Album this year !!!!!
I would like to hear it now too! Welcome to my Nightmare was my favorite album then my next fav was Billion Dollar Baby ! Pretty Please like maybe this Summer !
Hey Alice, what can you tell us about the No More Mr Nice Guy Tour? Will there be a lot of theatrics? What kind of setlist are we looking at? The classics of course but later material as well some rarities? Dirty Diamonds? Love that track and hope it doesnt get dropped...
C'mon Alice! Another year? We want to hear this thing already!